The ilusionist Siegfried Fischbacher, the surviving member of the duo Siegfried & Roy, died of cancer in Las Vegas at age 81. His sister, a nun living in Munich, confirmed the death.
“He was at his house in Las Vegas,” he told the German agency. DPA. He added that he spoke with his brother on the phone shortly before his death and that they prayed together. “I was able to pray with him and tell him that I would always be with him in my heart,” he declared, saying that after the call, Fischbacher he lay down and fell asleep.
Fischbacher’s longtime partner, Roy Horn, passed away last year of complications from COVID-19 at a Las Vegas hospital. He was 75 years old.
The tributes to Siegfried Fischbacher in Las Vegas, after knowing his death.
The duo wowed millions of viewers with their extraordinary magic tricks until Horn suffered a serious injury in 2003 during a performance of his famous act with the white tigers.
In a statement announcing Horn’s death in May, Fischbacher said: “From the moment we met, it was amazing that Roy and I, together, would change the world. There could be no Siegfried without Roy, and no Roy without Siegfried. ”
He later told the German weekly Bild am Sonntag that his best friend was always by his side. “For dinner, I’ll continue to set the table for him too, as usual. I’m not alone, ” Fischbacher told the newspaper.
For years Siegfried & Roy were an institution in Las Vegas, where they used to fill theaters with their magic and prowess. The duo gave six shows a week, 44 weeks of the year.
Roy with Sigfried and his albino tigers.
Horn and Fischbacher, both natives of Germany, teamed up in 1957 and a decade later debuted in Las Vegas. They began performing at the Mirage in 1990.
They were internationally recognized for helping save endangered tigers and white lions. Its $ 10 million complex housed dozens of rare animals for years. The white lions and tigers were the result of a preservation program that began in the 1980s.
The Siegfried & Roy show incorporated acts with animals and magic tricks, including 20 white tigers and lions; the number varied depending on the night. He also had other exotic animals, like an elephant.
Born on June 13, 1939 in Rosenheim, Bavaria, Fischbacher learned his first magic tricks as a child.
Horn and Fischbacher met on a cruise ship in 1957. Fischbacher performed magic tricks and Horn became his assistant, eventually suggesting that they use a cheetah on the spot.
They perfected their show at small clubs in Germany and Switzerland in the mid-1960s. Their big shot at success came in a Monte Carlo casino when an agent in the audience invited them to Las Vegas. The duo made their debut at the Tropicana hotel and casino in the late 1960s.
Siegfried Fischbacher was battling cancer.
During the 1970s they gained popularity and received their first stellar credit in 1978 as the main attraction of the show “Lido de Paris” at the Stardust. His show “Beyond Belief” opened in 1981 at the Frontier and performed thousands of times over seven years.
By the time they signed a lifetime contract with the Mirage in 2001, they had an estimated 5,000 appearances at the casino to 10 million fans since 1990 and had raised more than $ 1 billion.
“No artist has meant more to developing Las Vegas’ global reputation as the entertainment capital of the world like Siegfried & Roy,” said Terry Lanni, president of MGM Mirage, the casino’s parent company, after the 2003 attack on the one that Horn was injured.
Source: Agencies
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source https://pledgetimes.com/siegfried-fischbacher-of-the-iconic-magician-duo-siegfried-roy-has-died/
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